


little birdie

by toadpot



Series: black and all the shades inbetween [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Black Family Drama (Harry Potter), Black Family-centric (Harry Potter), Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, F/M, Mentions of Suicide, Regulus Black Deserves Better, Sirius Black Bashing, Sirius Black Deserves Better, Sirius Black has a daughter - Freeform, Sirius black feels, Sirius is a Dad, Slightly - Freeform, Tears, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:41:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27250624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toadpot/pseuds/toadpot
Summary: Sirius takes Harry to 12 Grimmauld Place and regrets everything.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Harry Potter, Sirius Black/Original Female Character(s)
Series: black and all the shades inbetween [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984840
Comments: 1
Kudos: 58





	little birdie

**Author's Note:**

> reader is sirius' daughter in this fic!!
> 
> oc Celeste Regina Black will be used as Sirius' daughter in any upcoming fics

When Sirius returned to 12 Grimmauld Place, he was accompanied by his godson, Harry James Potter. He felt the reassuring grip of Harry's fingers around his wrist as he passed through the heavily warded house, centuries of magic peeling back at the movements of his wand.

"This is-" Harry muttered, cringing as they walked through the abandoned house.

"My family enjoyed the colour Black," Sirius joked dryly, taking Harry up the staircase and into the room that held the family tree. 

The room was one of the only rooms that had no dust in it, and Sirius turned on his heel as he looked at the endless names of family members. 

"You had a daughter?" He heard Harry's voice from behind him, looking at the more recent names.

Sirius freezes, eyes widening as he whirls around, " _What?!"_

"Oh-" Harry coughs, looking awkward, "you didn't know?" 

Sirius blanches, "No I did- _I do_ ," he responds hastily, moving to look at the picture laced into the tapestry, "Celeste Regina Black," he murmurs.

Harry frowns as he recognises the name, "She hexed me in my 3rd year."

Sirius frowned, "the hex that sent you to the hospital wing for 2 weeks?"

"3," Harry corrected with a shrug.

"Slimey Slytherins," Sirius says with a slight bite.

"She was in Ravenclaw," Harry interrupts again, moving to look at the rest of the room

Sirius blinks once more, letting a shaky breath leave him as he allowed himself to slump. "The last time I saw her, she was 6 and wiser beyond her years. " 

Harry pauses, quickly doing the math, "you had her at 16?" 

The older of the 2 nods, "Uh- I never knew her mother, one day I got a letter asking to meet by the park not far from here; and I found a newborn baby wrapped in a black blanket, and it was addressed to me. It was the day I ran away."

"Where did you go?"

"To your dad's, I was always welcome at the Potters'," Sirius responds quietly. 

Kreacher comes tapping into the room, hand holding a feather duster. He growls at the 2 standing in the room, but is defeated at the sight of them staring at the tapestry. 

"If you wish, blood-traitor," Kreacher speaks, startling the 2 boys, "I can show you to Mistress Celeste's portrait."

Sirius swears if his head turned any faster, he'd be one of the house elves that had their heads pasted on the walls of the lower house. "Portrait?" He parrots, letting a anxious laugh leave him, "why not just show me a picture?"

"Kreacher can show Master a picture if he wishes," Kreacher spoke, suddenly feeling bad for the boy he had cared for as a child, "but, Kreacher assumed Master Sirius would want to speak to Miss Celeste."

Harry watches with awkward eyes, "he could just floo? Or write a letter to her instead?"

The duo watches as Kreacher darts his eyes across them, "Mistress Celeste's name is embroidered in red," and as the two turned to look at the name without the look of understanding passing either of their eyes he continued, "Young Mistress Celeste is dead."

Harry freezes, turning to look at his godfather with worried eyes. Sirius looked blank, his face a void but it was his eyes that held the emotion, pricking with tears, "Show us the way."

Kreacher showed them to the portrait hall, the other part of the house that was also spotless. His small hand waved to the end of the corridor, the portraits in turn silencing at the sight of Sirius after so long. 

Sirius led the way, momentarily forgetting Harry as he pounded down the corridor, all the way to the end. He caught sight with his brothers portrait on the left wall, who froze at the sight of him, "Siri."

The younger of the 2 Black brothers greeted, watching with a knowing gaze. Regulus' gaze turned to a portrait behind him, and Sirius was momentarily rendered speechless at the sight of his daughter.

Celeste had always been on the skinny side, and her cheeks always had a rosy glow to them as a child. Her eyes twinkled with stars as she'd cuddle in closer to Sirius when he'd read her bedtime stories, and her small button nose with scrunch slightly in her sleep. Now, she was a young woman of 18, and she looked just as he'd left her at 6. Aged with maturity, cheekbones high as all Blacks had, and she looked strikingly similar to how he had looked when he was her age. She had a long scar running down the right side of her face, starting from above her eyebrow and rested at the point where he lobe began.

"Hi papa," She greeted, eyes never leaving his face as she took in what he looked like, "you look old." 

Sirius was thrown into a whirlwind of memories:

_"Papa?" A quiet voice spoke from her position on his lap, they were currently watching a muggle baking show and one of the judges had brought up a picture of when she was younger._

_"Yes, love?" He questioned in turn, a smile breaking onto his face as he brushed his hand through the black curls that were resting on her soft cheeks._

_"Will you turn old and wrinkly too?"_

_"Everyone does, love."_

_"I think you'd look ugly," she blurted, eyes widening slightly, "don't go old, Papa."_

_Sirius barked a laugh, growling as he brought her closer to his face, hands running wild, "why you little-"_

"Do I look ugly?" He questioned, and for the first time in a long time, he felt nervous.

Celeste broke into a smile, throwing her head back onto the spine of the chair she was perched on as she laughed, "No- no, you look fine, papa."

Sirius nodded before sobering up, "you hexed Harry."

Instantly Celeste's laughter silenced as she stared at the teenager next to her father, "I did."

"Why?" Sirius presses, watching as she squirmed in what seemed to be annoyance.

"Because of the horcruxes." She answered, cutting in sharply before Harry could speak, "Uncle Reggie knew of them before Dumbledore and told me when I was in my 5th year."

"That doesn't explain why you hexed Harry," her father reasoned.

"The only reason Professor Dumbledore cares about Harry's wellbeing, is because in his eyes, he's a weapon. He's keeping Harry alive just so he can at the right time," Celeste answered, a glare sent towards her father, continuing at their confused looks "Harry was a horcrux."

Sirius blanches, before regaining composure, "was?"

He watched as Celeste closed her eyes for a beat too long, "yes. That's why I hexed him."

"You?" Harry muttered, confused.

"I learnt a spell that would move the horcrux in you, whilst you still had its powers, but the impact would be put on me," She explained, hand trailing to trace the scar on her face, "it gave me this."

"Why would you?" Harry questioned, eyebrows frowning, "you shouldn't have."

Celeste takes in a deep breath, "Whether papa would like to admit it or not, he's always prefered you over me."

Sirius in indignation interrupts, "that's not true."

"The night Uncle Prongs and Aunt Lily died," Celeste immediately shot back, "the night Voldemort broke into the safehouse, you seemed to forget your 5- turning 6 year old child was with them, and when you'd checked if Harry was still alive, bolted to go kill Peter." 

Sirius was silenced, and suddenly, he was much to aware of the silence radiating from the other portraits, who were all listening in too.

"Voldemort, for some reason spared me. He saw me, I know he did, right after Aunt Lily had died, I saw him going for Harry, so I screamed." Celeste breathed heavily, rapidly wiping at her tears, "He found me, and did nothing but cast a charm that made the walls collapse over me. He cast another charm so that I wasn't squashed to my death, and without a word moved to Harry."

Sirius feels something inside of him tear.

"I was stuck underneath the rubble for 3 days, before Grandmother Walburga came." 

"What?!" Sirius blurts, shocked his mother who had abandoned him came for his daughter, that he thought she knew nothing about. 

Celeste shrugged, "I don't know how she knew I was there, but she was the only person that came to save me." 

"What happened when she died?" Sirius questioned quietly, guilt trickling into his wound.

"She died 3 years later when I was 9, and the ministry sent me to Grandfather Arcturus." she answered with a nose scrunch, continuing with a new breath, "he died the summer of my 1st year." 

Sirius froze, once more, looking at his baby- was she his anymore?- and blinked as she continued her explanation. "I was taken to the ministry, and they asked who was taking care of me. I told them my Uncle Reggie was, and they left it at that."

"They didn't- they didn't check the records?" Harry questions as Sirius closes his eyes in defeat.

"I was the daughter of a murderer, Harry," Celeste laughs a laugh that reminds Sirius of his mother's, void of the emotion, "nobody cared more to check."

"The next 7 years of my life, I was raised by portraits and Kreacher," Celeste whispers, "when I was 16, you'd escaped Azkaban, and I hoped you'd visit me."

"2 Years!" She yelled, reminding Harry of Sirius when they first met in the shrieking shack, "2 years I waited for my Papa, for my Papa to come see me. I waited for my papa to apologise, because- _i_ \- because I _do_ have the heart in me to forgive my papa, I could excuse the way he reacted 10 years ago." As the tears ran down father and daughter's cheeks, she continued, "I just wanted my Papa back, so I waited, and I waited."

"I waited until I heard you'd visited Harry Potter before me," She whispered, now sniffing loudly, but her voice had dropped to a whisper, "and that was the last day the world heard of me." 

Sirius bit back his own sob that was about to rip it's way through his throat, "who told you?" 

"Grandfather Phineas Nigellus," She answered after a beat, but frowned at her father's visible distress, "I- I was supposed to die anyways, papa," she murmured, suddenly feeling bad, "The horcrux- I was going to die anyways. I just wanted to see you once more before I did."

Sirius groaned, but it was more a groan of pain, a sound of sheer agony, "I'm a shit papa," he whispered, looking at his daughter, " _Birdie_ i'm sorry."

That was all it took for Celeste to burst into another fit of tears, this time it was not the collected tears that ran down her face, but the heart-wrenching sobs, the visible shake of her shoulders as she pushed her head into her hands. Sirius wanted to comfort his daughter, but was unable to do so, so he watched with blurry eyes as he slumped against the wall that had Regulus' portrait. He watched as Regulus' figure moved to comfort his baby, as Regulus' wiped away at her tears. He didn't regret making Regulus Celeste's godfather, nor did he regret making her middle name based of his.

He was sent into another hazed memory:

_"PAPA GET IT AWAY FROM ME!" The four year old shrieked loudly, running from under the table to grab her father's legs._

_Sirius startled, half-awake and gripping for his wand as he heard sounds in the apartment, "What is it, love?"_

_"IT'S A BIRD" She sobbed, clutching at his neck now she was safe in his arms, pushing her head into his neck._

_Sirius moved out into the living room, welcomed by the sight of James' owl perched sheepishly on the sofa, a letter in its beak._

_"Thank you," he murmured, letting the owl leave through the windows._

_"That got you scared huh?" He murmured, running a hand across his baby's back, the comforting thrum of her heart beating against his fingers, "it's okay, Papa will always protect you, birdie."_

At the soft sound of 'papa' he looked back up, his daughter matching his tearfilled gaze. 

"I love you," she murmured as he finger brushed against the painting, and Sirius shoved his painting to the spot to, feeling nothing but paint and canvas, "I forgive you, papa, I always will."

Sirius blinked away the fresh tears, "You shouldn't ,birdie" he whispered, "I love you more." 

There are many things Sirius regrets in his life, like: making Peter secret keeper, not taking Regulus with him when he ran away, being a shit papa. But there was 1 thing he would never regret, and that was visiting the park a day after his birthday, the 4th of November, and seeing his little Birdie for the first time in his life.


End file.
